Conscious that traffic remains one of the major sources of frustration and discontent, and also of its negative effects on business and the economy in general, the government has announced a number of interesting initiatives aimed at cutting down congestion.

Perhaps the most interesting measure, and the one that could have the biggest effect, is the plan to make all school transport free.

The government, in the budget speech, also makes reference to a ‘collective’ school transport system. Government sources say talks will determine whether school buses could pick up children going to public, private and church schools on the same trips and thus make fewer runs.

It does not take an expert to conclude that school transport contributes to our massive morning traffic problem, so a measure that promises fewer minibuses on the roads is definitely welcome.

Another good budget measure is the extension of the free-public-transport-for-a-year scheme, which will now cover all youths aged between 16 and 20. It looks like last year’s scheme was a great success, and extending it fivefold seems to be a step in the right direction.

Other measures, such as the increase in port ferry frequencies and the incentives to purchase bicycles, scooters and motorcycles are also expected to leave some sort of mark, although it will take time to measure the effect.

There is of course the PL electoral manifesto of rebuilding all roads in a seven year period, but, positive as it is, better roads will not lead to less traffic.

While all these measures are positive and likely to lead to some degree of abatement, we believe that the traffic problem cannot be really tackled unless a change in mentality also takes place.

We have heard this argument ad nauseam, but the truth is that hardly anything is being done to address the issue. Schemes and incentives are good, but we also need to understand the mentality of the Maltese when it comes to driving habits and seek ways of really changing it, which is no easy task.

There have been repeated calls on the government to carry out ‘mentality studies’. We need to see why people feel the need to use the car to do a milk run when the shop is situated just two minutes away. We need to know all the reasons why many parents opt out of school transport; fees and childrens’ safety are not the only two issues, even if they are the main ones.

We also need to understand why carpooling efforts have failed; why the majority of cars on the road in the morning and afternoon rush hours are only carrying one person; the driver.

Efforts must be undertaken, serious efforts, to educate people and shift mentalities when it comes to road sharing, for this is another concept that is failing. We cannot have a situation where car drivers dislike motorcyclists, motorcyclists dislike car drivers and everyone dislikes cyslists. We must understand that roads are there for everyone to use.

These are all questions that need to be answered and addressed through specialized studies. The Kappara and Marsa junctions are great leaps forward with regard to traffic management, but there is so much more that has to be done, especially in a country with a booming economy and where more than 30 new cars end up in the roads with each passing day.